Allison Ford And The Homecoming Job
by Sassy Robert
Summary: Allison is back with the newly formed Leverage Consulting Inc. Their first Client? Corporal Robert Perry, a soldier who was wounded in Iraq by Castleman, a private contractor company. One thing turns into another and somehow Parker ends up with explosives... Could be read on it's own, but you should probably check out the first book, Allison Ford And The Nigerian Job.
1. The Prologue

"Alright sweetheart. We are near Najaf." A soldier said, holding a camera with an Iraq town in the background. "I'm not allowed to say exactly where." He looked over at another soldier. "Hey Dwight! Say hello to Jenny!" He called.

The other man came over. "He's cheating on you!" Dwight shouted.

"Nice." The first soldier said.

"With a camel, a drunk slutty camel." Dwight said with a boyish grin.

"Alright." The first soldier said with a smirk. "It was one time, okay, and the camels been texting me, but it's over I promise..."

A back up alarm went off.

"Hello, PSD." Dwight said.

The camera pointed towards a truck with men around it.

"See those guys?" The first man asked. "Private contractors. They make seven hundred bucks a day. I make seven."

Dwight butted into the picture. "Yeah, but you know what they gotta do? They gotta-" Dwight was cut off by shouting.

Soon, gunfire rang out.

Dwight was hit several times in the chest.

"Shots fired! Shots fired! Go, go, go red!" Someone shouted.

Dwight let out a groan.

The camera fell and focused on the first soldier, then it cut.


	2. The Picture

Nate and Allison watched on the laptop with the soldier, Corporal Robert Perry.

Nate rewound the video.

"Yeah, but you know what they gotta do? They gotta-"

Nate paused it when Dwight got shot.

"Is Jenny your fiancee?" Allison asked.

"Well, she was. But..." Perry trailed off.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Allison said, gently touching his shoulder.

He looked up at her with a cocky grin. "You single?" He asked.

She chuckled and patted his arm. "Happily."

He grinned, then looked at Nate. "Look, I'm not mad. It happens. I don't want charity though." Perry said.

"We are not a charity." Nate said.

"I just want my rehab, you know, if I'm gonna work, and I want to work, Dr. Leroque says I need another year and a half of hardcore rehab, maybe two more surgeries. Castleman shot me up, I just want them to pay my bills, no more, no less."

Nate hummed thoughtfully.

Allison looked around at the room full of wounded soldiers, all doing rehab.

"The army investigation determined... What? That you were hit by insurgents?" Nate asked.

"Yeah. That's because Castleman refused to cooperate in that investigation." Perry said.

"And they can do that?" Allison asked.

"Nobody's stopping them, they're cowboys. They go off all the time. Boom, boom, boom. I just want them to do right by me." Perry said, he reached over and pulled out the flash drive.

A woman with chocolate skin, dark hair, and dark eyes walked up. "Pardon me, Mr. uh?" She said, vying for a name.

"Oh, uh, Nathan Ford and this is my niece, Allison Ford. You're Dr. Leroque?"

"Can I talk to you outside?" Dr. Leroque asked.

"Doc, he's cool. I found him on the internet." Perry said.

"Yea, that never goes badly." The doctor looked at Nate. "With me." She said.

He nodded and walked out with the doctor.

Allison moved to follow her uncle.

Perry grabbed her arm.

"Ms. Ford." He said.

"Please, just Allison." Allison said kindly.

"Is there a number I can use to get a hold of you?" He asked is eyes glittered with mirth. "You know, just in case something important comes up. Like, for instance, dinner on Friday night?" He said.

She smirked and handed him a card.

He grinned, then handed her the flash drive.

She smiled and walked out and to her uncle. "What did she want?" She asked.

"Basically told us to get, thinks we're running a scam." Nate said.

Allison nodded.

He looked at his niece. "Allison, call them." Nate said.

Allison smiled.

"Why, why!" Sophie cried. "I can't live like this anymore! With the lies, and the filth! No! Help me! I want to be clean! I want to be clean!" She scrubbed her hands against her arms and fell to her knees, wailing.

The two directors watching were amazed at how horrible her acting was.

"You... You do understand this is a commercial for soap... Right?" The man asked.

"Uh huh." Sophie said enthusiastically, she got up. "When I thought about Peggy, I came up with this idea that the dirt was really this giant metaphor for sin." She said, bobbing her head.

The directors glanced at each other, silently asking if she was for real.

Sophie's phone rang.

"You should take that." The man said urgently. "No, no, you should take that."

Sophie seemed surprised. "Oh." She answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, hello Allison" She said with a smile. "When?" She asked seriously. Sophie hung up. "Peggy killed her first husband." Sophie said, before walking off the audition set.

"Yes, thank you." The man said, before looking at the other director.

The two laughed and shook their heads.

On the hood of a navy blue car, a man laid unconscious.

Soon, another fell on top of him.

Eliot turned away from the car and the last man pulled a gun on him.

They stared at each other for a minute, then a phone rang.

"That you or me?" Eliot asked.

The man didn't seem sure, but he didn't take his eyes off Eliot. Probably the only reason he was still standing.

The phone kept ringing.

"Could be important." Eliot continued with a laid back drawl. He narrowed his eyes. "Does your mama have your number?" He asked.

The man looked down.

Eliot quickly grabbed the gun and punched the man in the neck.

The man went down, choking.

Eliot unloaded the gun and tossed it away before pulling out his phone and answering it. "Yeah Allison?" He asked. "Nothing, why?" He asked with a tiny smirk.

A guard walked along the halls of a museum gallery, shining a light on a painting, then, turning around slowly. When he turned back to the painting it was gone, and a rope dangled down in it's place.

A cell phone rang.

"Parker." The female thief whispered.

The rope retracted with a zip.

"Shh!" She hissed. "Oh no, Allison. I wasn't shushing you."

Eliot, Sophie, and Parker came around the corner and headed down the hall.

"From the first job?" Parker asked.

"Yeah." Eliot said.

"I put all the money in a Swiss bank account." She said.

"Millions of dollars and you didn't buy anything?" Eliot asked wrinkling his nose.

"I don't like stuff, I like money." Parker said with a crazy glint in her eye.

"I bought a little retirement home, an island." Sophie said.

"Nice." Eliot said.

"In Dubai... and Tokyo." She added.

"What about you?" Parker asked, as they walked in front of a door.

A small yellow envelope with Sophie's name on it was attached to the door.

Sophie pulled it off.

"Yeah... I'm not about to tell two known thieves what I did with a million dollar payout." Eliot said, as Sophie unlocked the door.

"Don't you trust us?" Sophie asked, opening the door.

Eliot didn't answer.

They walked in and stopped in surprise.

The room they had stepped in, was a lobby type room with a sign on the wall that read "Leverage Consulting & Associates".

"Okay." Sophie said slowly, trying to come to grips with the room. "Okay." She said again when she figured out that she couldn't come to grips with it.

"I don't get it." Eliot said.

"What is this?" Parker asked.

"This." Hardison said walking over with three phones and three file folders. "Is our new cover story. Welcome to Leverage Consulting & Associates, founded in 1913 by the great Harland Leverage The Third." Hardison said with a grin as he pointed to a painting that looked like an older Nate with grey hair, and an old fashion suit.

Sophie burst out laughing. "I'm sorry. Nate is going to kill you." She said.

"Did you paint that?" Eliot asked.

"Hell no, Allison did." Hardison said, with a grin. "Now, Leverage Consulting Inc. is squeaky clean, all corporate taxes on record as being paid for the last ninety years." Hardison handed them each a cell and a folder. "All your identities as partners, your payroll taxes are paid, you guys have pension plans and dental. Those are employment records case files and company newsletters." Hardison said, walking down a hall.

The others followed.

Parker flipped through her file and laughed. "In 1998 me and some girl named Josie Collins won the three legged race at the Fourth of July picinic! Cool!" She said with a grin.

"Josie Collins is Allison's alias, well one of them. Josie Collins, Allison, and Alice White, you, have been best friends for years." Hardison said.

"Sweet, I never had a best friend." Parker said.

Sophie gave her a surprised look.

"Now, these." Hardison said stopping motioning to several doors. "These are your offices. Now, you can bring something like a photo- You know what? A plant. I'm a big supporter of dandelions." Hardison said.

"Hardison, I can't believe you spent your share of the cash on all of this." Sophie said.

"Me? No, hell no. Allison paid for all this, Nate would have, but he didn't have anything left. You know, after giving it all away." Hardison said.

"Whoa. What do you mean? He gave it away?" Eliot asked.

"Yeah, all of it, every last penny. It was like to some children's hospital, Allison did too with what she had left."

The team was silent.

"But this, this is my master piece." Hardison said with a grin. He opened two doors that lead to a conference room.

The room had one long table with several chairs around it and one wall was dedicated completely to big screen tvs.

"Nice." Sophie said.

"My man." Eliot said.

"Long version or the short version?" Hardison asked.

"Short." Sophie said.

"Short version." Eliot said.

"Shortest." Parker said.

Hardison clicked a button on a remote and the TV screens began to illustrate his explanation. "Photo and video forensics program, back doors into every electronic banking system in the world, running heuristics data crawls all over the news sites to find out clients- Oh! Also."

"This is the short version?" Parker asked.

"Facial recognition database tied into CIA, NSA, and the FBI. But the real piéce de résistantce." He clicked another button and different sports games showed up on each TV. "Direct TV HD Total Sports Package. NFL, NBA, and I threw in a little bit of hockey, cause I know you people like that." He said.

"Hockey." Eliot said with a big grin.

The doors behind them opened and Allison and Nate walked in.

"Alright, stop kicking the tires." Nate said.

Allison held up the flash drive Perry gave her. "Want to take her for a spin?" She asked, tossing it to Hardison.

"See those guys? Private contractors. They make seven hundred bucks a day, I make seven." Perry said.

"Yeah, but you know what they gotta do? They gotta-"

The shooting began.

Hardison paused the video on Perry's body.

"Our client is cameraman, Corporal Robert Perry. He says that the Castleman contractors spooked and started firing." Nate said.

"5.56 NATO rounds." Eliot said. "Mixed in with some 9 mils from the sub machine guns. Insurgents would have used AK-47s with 7.62 ammo has more of a..." He hit the back of his hand with his palm. "Crack. Contractors shot 'em up all right."

"You ID'd the weapon from the gunshot sound?" Allison asked.

He looked at her. "It's a very distinctive sound." He said.

She rolled her eyes.

Hardison changed the screen. "Castleman security is hardcore, folks. Billion dollar company. They got fat government contracts everywhere we got troops. That's Charles Dufort." He said motioning to a picture. "CEO, very paranoid, and very professional."

"I want to get this clear right now, this is a private army you're talking about taking on? They got their own Intel assets, they got a lot of trigger pullers." Eliot said.

"Yea and lobbyists in every office in Washington, DC." Allison said.

"The problem with a cover-up is all the paperwork it takes to keep the lies straight." Nate said.

"Internal emails, memos." Hardison offered.

"Exactly." Nate said.

"So..." Sophie said slowly.

"So, let's go to work." Nate said getting up and walking out.

The rest of the team followed.

"So, we steal the evidence and threaten to expose them." Sophie said.

"Blackmail." Parker said.

"Ah, yes." Nate said.

"But just enough blackmail to pay for Perry's rehab, maybe a couple of million more in damages." Allison said.

"It'll never hold up in court." Eliot said skeptically.

Nate turned and smirked. "Ah, but that's why Corporal Perry is lucky. He doesn't have lawyers, he has thieves." Nate said.

The team smiled and exited.

Nate glanced over at the painting of Harland Leverage The Third. "Allison!"

A/N: How do you like it? Sorry for any mistakes. In the past thirty-eight hours I've only slept two. Overnighter at my sister's church that I helped out at.


	3. The Truck

Eliot walked by a sign that read "Castleman Security welcomes Congressman Robert Jenkins, private party". He was dressed as a waiter and carried a tray filled with glasses of champagne. He walked over by Nate. "Next time, I wear the suit." He hissed as be past him.

"Dufort's here, I'll make contact." Sophie said over the comms. She took a glass of champagne from Eliot's tray.

"See what you can squeeze out of him. Parker, Hardison, Allison, time to hit his office." Nate ordered.

Parker, Hardison, and Allison stood on the roof of the building, decked out in black clothing to conceal them.

Parker had already attached a harness to Allison and was now doing the same for Hardison.

"I.. I gotta go back to the office, I just remember something." Hardison said with a quivering, fearful voice.

"What?" Parker asked annoyed.

"I just remembered gravity." Hardison said indignantly. "And the squishiness of all my manly bits."

Allison giggled.

"I designed this rig myself. The line is carbon fiber, five point harness, weight support here, here, and here." She said hitting places on his chest and stomach with the palm of her hand. "Auto breaking resistance on the main pulley back here." She said smacking his backside softly.

"Okay, cool. So it's tested?" Hardison asked.

Parker shrugged. "Not yet."

"Not yet!? When the hell was you gonna test it?" Hardison asked.

Parker rolled her eyes and pushed Hardison off the roof. She smiled as he screamed. "Big baby. Allison, do what I do and you'll be fine." Parker said.

Allison nodded.

Parker turned around so her back was facing outwards and with a short jump, she was falling.

Allison shrugged and followed her.

"So, Josie Collins is your cover name?!" Parker asked, shouting over the wind and Hardison's screaming.

"Yes!" Allison yelled as they zipped down.

"And Alice White is mine!?" Parker asked.

"Yes!"

"Josie and Alice are best friends, right!?" Parker shouted.

"I believe so!" Allison called.

"Then, are we best friends too!?" Parker shouted.

Allison was a little startled by her question. "I guess so!"

"Sweet! What do best friends do!?"

"Well! They tell each other secrets! They have each others backs! They spend time with each other! Stuff like that!" Allison shouted.

"Oh! Okay!"

Hardison's screams subsided as he stopped falling. He dangled from the rope upside down.

Allison and Parker lowered down beside him.

He looked up at Parker. "Seriously?" He asked. He looked at Allison. "Seriously?"

"Okay, Hardison, Parker, Allison, guard sweeps are every ten minutes, that means you got nine minutes-thirty seconds." Nate said.

"I'm working on it." Hardison hissed.

Sophie approached Congresssman Jenkins and Charles Dufort while they were talking. "Pardon me, Congressman." Sophie said interrupting them. "Lilly McCreedy, I'm with executive orders." She said.

"They're a London based defense contractor." Dufort informed Jenkins. Dufort shook Sophie's hand. "Charles Dufort. Executive orders doesn't work for the US government." He pointed out.

Sophie smirked. "Yet. Perhaps we can do something about that?" Sophie offered.

"Yes, well. It was very nice meeting you, now you'll have to excuse me." Jenkins said, walking away.

Sophie made a move to follow but Dufort's question stopped her in her tracks.

"You're not poaching, are you?" He asked. "Appropriations bill 718. Those are our defense contracts, don't even bother." He said.

Sophie smiled. "Mr. Dufort, surely there's enough war to go around." She asked.

He smirked. "I rather like you." He said.

"Hardison, Hardison, what's this? What's this bill they're talking about?" Nate asked.

Hardison sat at the desk tapping keys on the computer while Allison and Parker searched the office with flashlights.

"You know, I'd like to give you the schoolhouse rock, but this man has an RFID security card reader on his power supply, so I'm a little busy." Hardison said, fiddling with the device.

Allison studied a painted and placed a little pressure on the frame and it opened

"Ooh! Old school, Allison found a safe." Parker said walking over. She studied the safe with just as much interest as Allison when she studied the painting. "You're not going to believe this. It's voice activated." Parker said.

"Alright, well, one problem at a time. Uh, Sophie, I'm going in. We need to get an RFID card to Eliot." Nate said.

"My company's focused on meeting Senators, but I'm thinking Congressmen." Sophie said.

"You know the great thing about Congressmen?" Dufort asked. "Fifty, a hundred grand well spent will get one elected, but then, once they're in, the incumbency rate is over 95 percent. So you can get an average 18-20 years use out of one of them. In these uncertain times buying a United States Congressman is one of the best investments a corporation can make." Dufort said.

Sophie masked her disgust behind a forced smile.

"Oh, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I'm a professional criminal and I find that disturbing." Hardison said.

Nate grabbed an appetizer from a waitress and generously scooped dip with it and walked towards Dufort and Sophie, as he walked by, he slather dip all over Dufort's jacket then walked over to the bar and tossed the appetizer behind him. He grabbed a napkin and headed back to Sophie and Dufort. "Excuse me." He said. "You have a little dip on..." Nate pointed to Dufort's jacket.

"Oh dear, you've got dip all over this beautiful jacket." Sophie said. While he was distracted, Sophie grabbed Dufort's wallet and romoved the RFID card with her teeth.

"It shouldn't be too hard to get out in the wash." Nate said, after Dufort took off his jacket.

"Can you believe this? First day I've worn it. Thank you." Dufort said.

"Let me see if I can get someone to help you with that. Excuse me." Sophie said to Eliot.

"Yes ma'am?" He asked walking over.

Sophie slipped the RFID card under the tray Eliot was carrying and into his hand. "I was wondering if you could help us, we seem to have gotten a little stain on this jacket."

"Oh, look at that!" Eliot exclaimed. "Let me take care of that for you." He said taking the jacket from Dufort.

"If you could splash a little soda water-"

Dufort quickly grabbed his wallet from the pocket of his coat. "Let me keep this." He said. "Man in my position shouldn't forget his wallet, it's embarrassing."

Sophie let out a little chuckle.

Eliot walked away and handed his tray to one of the guest. "Here you go sir, knock yourself out." He studied the card. "There's no magnetic strip." He said.

"It emits a little radio frequency, just- just put it up next to the phone I gave you." Hardison commanded. Hardison placed his phone next to the RFID reader on Dufort's desk, while Eliot held the card up to his phone.

The display read 'cloning' and minutes later had changed to 'code cloned'.

Hardison's phone read 'sending code data'. "I'm in." He said.

"Allison, Parker. What's the status of the voice lock?" Nate asked.

"Uh, Allison and I have been sampling Dufort's speech but we still need a few more sounds." Parker said.

"How many?" Nate asked.

"Well, we only need the sounds, puh, tuh, oo, ah, eh, oh, uh, kuh, ke, a, fuh." Allison said.

"Oh, only those?" Nate asked sarcastically. "Eliot."

"I'm on it." The hitter replied. "Pardon." He said weaving around people with two trays in hand. "Hello." He said when he reached Sophie and Dufort.

"Ooh, mmm." Sophie said ogling at the food.

"Appetizer, sir?" Eliot asked.

"Sure, what do you got?" Dufort asked.

"I've got the pâté d'escargot avec bière d'Argentine and..." He looked at the other tray and grimaced. "What looks like old duck, kind of greasy." He said.

"I guess I'll have the first one." Dufort said with a smile.

Eliot smiled. "Of course." He said and offered him the second tray.

Dufort looked at him expectantly. "Well?" He said when Eliot made no move to give him the other tray. "May I have some?"

Eliot wrinkled his nose. "The greasy duck?" He asked.

"Oh no, no, no, I wouldn't have the greasy duck." Sophie said.

"No, I wouldn't suggest it." Eliot said.

"No, the other one." Dufort said.

Eliot feigned ignorance.

"The- the pâté d'escargot avec bière d'Argentine!" Dufort exclaimed, very annoyed.

"Excellent choice, sir." Eliot said with a smile and gave him the first tray.

"Who is this clown?" Dufort asked Sophie when Eliot moved away.

"Pretty good, got most of them." Allison said.

"Okay, now, all we need is fuh, uh, and kuh." Parker said.

Dufort had taken a bit of the appetizer then spit it out. "This is shrimp!" He shouted.

"Very good then." Eliot said.

"It's shrimp you stupid f-!"

"Ooh, there they are." Allison said with a half grin.

"And really loud, too." Parker said.

"Okay Sophie, start the walk away." Nate said.

"I was wondering if I could drop by your office?" Sophie asked.

Dufort grinned. "Anytime." He said.

She walked away and towards Congressman Jenkins.

"Where are you going?" Nate asked.

"Playing a hunch." She said.

"Alright, well, play it fast. Hardison, what have you got? You got three minutes." Nate said.

"Too much." Hardison said, scrolling through the computer files.

"They got all of Perry's medical records, which, sure, is pretty normal, but they've got psych evaluations, high school records, they've been reading his emails- Allison... have you checked your email?" Hardison asked.

"Not recently... Why?" Allison asked, tilting her head.

"Why do you need to know that, Hardison?" Parker asked.

"Seems like Corporal Perry is trying to get it on with our Allison." Hardison said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"What's the email say?" Nate asked.

"He wants to know if she is still 'happily single', or willing to go on a date on Friday night."

Allison's cheeks burned.

"They're tapping his phones. Allison, your numbers on here as well. He's called it twice." Parker said, looking at her friend with curiosity.

"It's my office number." Allison insisted, feeling the need to defend herself.

"Ooh! Handing out your office number already?" Hardison said, wiggling his eyebrows again.

"Knock it off." Allison said.

"Just playing with you, Al." He said. "You're okay if I call you that, right?" He asked.

"Well, it's not exactly my favorite nickname. But knock yourself out." Allison said, before turning to the safe and pulling out some papers.

"I've got surveillance photos of Perry here from the hospital yesterday." She said.

"Why spend so much money watching our guy? I mean investigations of the shooting were done months ago." Hardison said.

Allison stood up straighter. "Uh oh." She said.

~Flashback~

"See those guys? Private contractors."

The camera focused on the Castleman logo on the truck.

~End Of Flashback~

"Allison? Allison, what's uh oh?" Nate asked.

"Let me run this by you quick. What if the cover up has nothing to do with the shooting?" Allison asked.

Nate cursed as he caught onto what she was saying.

Allison continued. "And had everything to do with the trucks."

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I have a quick question. I received a review from a guest that said Allison might be taking away from Nate's.. well... natey-ness. What are your thoughts? _Is_ Allison taking it away from Nate? If so how can I fix this? xo's forever Sassy.


	4. The Elevator

"Congressman." Sophie said, coming up behind him.

"Yes?" Jenkins asked.

"Your support on the next Appropriations bill would be very helpful." She said.

"We've already earmarked the no-bid contracts for Castleman. They deserve it." Jenkins said.

"Nobody's perfect." Sophie said. "Look at all the trouble they had with that shooting in Najaf."

"I'm sorry, I don't really follow that sort of news." Jenkins said looking her in the eye. "I just review the contracts." He said.

"Of course." Sophie said.

"Excuse me." Jenkins said, before walking away.

Nate came up behind Sophie and they headed for the door.

"Alright guys, bug out. Parker, Hardison, go back to the office, Sophie will meet you there. Allison, were going to the hospital." Nate said.

"Do you need to talk to Perry again?" Hardison asked.

"Allison was right about the trucks. The shooting wasn't an accident. Perry isn't a victim, he's a witness. Does Castleman strike you as the kind of company to leave a witness alive?" Nate asked.

The door to Perry's room opened, Nate and Allison walked out.

"He's not in his damn room." Nate said.

In a different hall, Eliot grabbed the doctors coat of an unconscious intern.

"I'm checking all the corridors that are connected to the exterior doors." Eliot said.

Allison and Nate walked quickly into the rehab station.

Perry was alone, practicing walking on the hand bars. "Sorry doc, I know it's closed, but... Mr. Ford?" He asked.

"We gotta get you out of here, now." Allison said.

Nate grabbed a wheelchair and put it in front of Perry.

"I was thinking dinner on Friday, but today's good." Perry said.

Allison rolled her eyes with a slight smile. "Were here because of Castleman. come on, Mr. Perry." She said, she and Nate helped him into the chair.

"Mr. Perry? Call me, Robby." He said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

She smirked. "Well then, watch those hands, Robby" She said.

"I'm in a wheelchair, I'm not blind." He said winking.

Nate grabbed the handles of the wheelchair.

"Let's go." Allison said.

Eliot walked past two doctors.

Their boots clicked against the tiles echoing in the halls as they walked by.

"Nate, get him clear I can't find-"

"Excuse me." Dr. Leroque said interrupting Eliot. "Do you work on this floor?" She asked.

He quickly glanced around for any clues that might tell him what floor he was on. "I uh- what floor is this? I'm in orthopedics. So.." He trailed off gazing at her feet, which were placed in crocks. Eliot looked at the other doctors feet they were all wearing crocks. He looked back at the two men he had passed in the hall.

They were wearing boots.

Realization struck him and he ran after them.

"Hey! Hey!" Dr. Leroque shouted.

Nate, Allison, and Perry turned the corner and almost ran into two men.

Eliot was running breakneck speed at them.

And when one of them pulled a knife, Allison realized why.

"Get the elevator!" She exclaimed. She pushed a gurney down the hallway to block the two mens path.

Eliot pushed one man into a wall then knocked the other onto the gurney, flipping him to the ground.

The man he pushed into the wall came at him with his knife, which luckily, Eliot dodged.

The other man came at Eliot with a knife of his own.

Eliot used an IV pole to deflect it. He kicked him in the stomach and hit the first one in the face with the pole.

The second man gathered himself and went after Eliot again, knife in hand.

Eliot knocked him to the ground, punching him several times.

"Allison!" Perry shouted, rolling a cart with a defibrillator on it to her.

She grabbed the paddles and started to charge the machine.

The first man ran at Eliot again, but Eliot grabbed him by the arm and practically threw him towards Allison, just as the defibrillator charged.

Allison smiled at him. "Hello." She said, before using the defibrillator to send electrical jolts into the man, sending him flying backwards unconscious.

Eliot grinned.

The elevator dinged.

"Come on." Nate said, pushing Perry into the elevator.

Allison looked at Eliot, who was busy grabbing a belly bag from one of the men. "We'll meet you downstairs." She said.

Nate nodded as the doors closed.

When Eliot was done, he and Allison slipped into another elevator. A glare was firmly planted on his face.

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. She located the elevator shut off switch and flipped it. "Okay, you and I need to talk." Allison said.

"I'm listening." Eliot said, not seeming to thrilled with being stuck in an elevator with her.

"What is it with you?" She asked.

"What?" He asked listlessly.

"It's like you can't decide to be happy or mad so you just settle on being annoyed. I mean five seconds ago you were grinning at me, now you act as if being in an elevator with me is worse than anything in the world."

Eliot flicked the elevator switch on.

But before the elevator reacted to it, Allison flicked it back off. "Whenever I come up with a plan, you doubt it, you don't doubt Nate. You question everything I do-"

Eliot rolled his eyes and flicked the elevator switch on.

She flicked it off again. "Oh don't roll your eyes at me, you know it's true. I want to know what the problem is. Did I offend you or something? Because if I did I apologize. But-"

"Oh, for the love of..." Eliot silenced her by pulling her to him and kissing her on the lips.

Everything blurred around them, she didn't remember tangling her fingers into his hair, but she did remember him moving her towards the wall of the elevator and gripping her waist tightly.

At one point somewhere in the middle of it, Eliot reached behind her and flipped the switch.

Then, before her brain could register anything that was going on, he pulled away slowly, removing his hands from her waist and untangling her hands from his unimaginably soft brown hair, just as the elevator dinged.

"Did you just kiss me." She asked, a little starstruck. Her emotions jumbled. She felt like crying, shouting with glee, and slapping him, all at once.

He seemed just as surprised that he did that as she was. "Just pretend it never happened." He said in a deep growl as he fixed his hair.

"Okay." she said quietly.

He nodded and walked out the now open doors.

She followed flushed and confused.

Eliot emptied the belly bag out onto the table.

The team looked at it's contents: A money clip, a pack of cigarettes, a note, a knife, a pair of sunglasses, and a gun.

"I got all this stuff off one of the Castleman hitters." Eliot said.

Allison picked up the note. "I can't live with the pain, I'm so sorry... This is a suicide note." She said looking at Sophie.

"The gun is registered in Robert Perry's name. The bill of sale belongs to a gun shop a mile from his house." Hardison said.

Nate walked in. "I got Perry squared away in a safe house." He said.

"Play times over Nate, it's only a matter of time before they come after us. The tall one, the way he used a knife, ex-marine, probably force recon." Eliot said.

"You ID'd a guy off his knife fighting style?" Allison asked.

The two looked at each other for a second. "It's a very distinctive style." Both Allison and Eliot said.

"Right." Allison said, looking away as quickly as possible.

Nate filled a glass full of liquor, placing it on the table, then taking a swig straight from the bottle.

Allison gave him a pointed look.

"For later." He said motioning to the glass.

She rolled her eyes.

"I didn't sign up for any of this. What I did before. Nobody got hurt." Hardison said.

"I stole paintings for a living." Sophie said.

"I never hurt anybody." Parker said.

"I actually hurt people. So..." Eliot trailed off.

"Nate, if anything had happened to this kid-"

"You know, you guys called on us." Nate said interrupting Sophie. "You remember? You begged me and Allison to run the crew, agreed to play by our rules. Now walk out if you have a problem with that, walk out any day if you have a problem with that!" Nate exclaimed with frustration. "It's simple." He said calming down.

Everyone looked hesitantly at the door.

"We finish this one." Eliot said.

"Just one." Parker said softly.

Allison reached over and squeezed her hand.

"How do we hit em?" Hardison asked solemnly.

"Congressman Jenkins." Sophie said. "He's our in. Looked me straight in the eye and told me he'd never even heard of the shooting."

"So?" Parker asked.

"Looked me in the eye?" Sophie asked. "When men are telling me the truth they're not looking me in the eye. A man only ever looks a woman in the eye when he's making the effort to lie to her."

Eliot and Hardison glanced at each other.

"Well, you can't argue with that." Eliot said.

"Noted and filed." Hardison added.

"Alright, Jenkins is Dufort's pet Congressman. Let's see if we can get him to bite. the best way to get two people to reveal a secret get em to turn on each other." Nate said.

Eliot gathered up the items from the bag and left with Parker, Sophie, and Hardison.

Nate took a long drink from the liquor bottle.

Allison got up and grabbed the bottle while he was in mid-drink. "Can I put that away for you?" She asked, walking out with it.

He turned around. "That didn't sound like a question!" Nate shouted, before picking up the glass he had set on the table and taking a drink.

A/N: Well! Here's another chapter! It was posted a little later than I wanted and I have a perfectly sound excuse as to why. I had wisdom teeth pulled and they gave me laughing gas. (Isn't that how all good stories start?) And in my drugged haze I decided, Hey! How about I take that chapter of Allison Ford And The Homecoming Job that I have half finished and finish it now! And well... It looked like a drunk five-year-old with a very creative imagination wrote it. I re-read it when the drugs wore off and there was a dragon popping up for some reason, Corporal Perry was turning into a werewolf, and other ungodly things were happening that I am not going to mention. I later learned my friend came over and was giving me "ideas" for the chapter. -.- Yea... So... Anyway, here it is! Hope you love it! xo Sassy.


	5. The Eagle

Sophie approached Jenkins in the hall. "Congressman Jenkins." She said.

"Oh, uh, Executive Orders." Jenkins said when he saw her. "The European company from the fundraiser right?"

"That's right." Sophie said with a smile.

Nate and Dufort walked into the latter's office.

"I remember you from the fundraiser." Dufort said, he motioned to a seat. "Please." He said.

Nate obliged. "Tom Abrahms, you can call me Tommy." He said in a fake accent.

"You don't work for Congressman Jenkins, do you?" Dufort asked.

"I do not, no, I work for Congressman Calloway from upstate." Nate said.

"We already have enough friends on the appropriations committee." Dufort said.

"European countries will aid the United States in foreign operations, if they know that European companies are going to reap some of the benefits, some help in the Appropriations bill..." Sophie said.

"I support American companies." Jenkins said.

"Like Castleman?" Sophie asked.

"Like Castleman, and they support the country." Jenkins said.

"Well, I'm here because Congressman Calloway wanted me to let you know that he's open to discussions now that Congressman Jenkins has gone soft on you." Nate said.

"Jenkins always delivers." Dufort said.

"Jenkins told my boss, to his face, that he's tired of covering for you." Nate said.

"We've backed him for years." Dufort said.

"Well, Jenkins wanted my boss to meet this woman from a British company." Nate snapped his fingers, as if trying to remember the name. "Er, uh..."

"Executive orders." Dufort said a scowl setting in.

"I didn't pick you at random Congressman. Castleman can be a fickle friend. Rumor has it they're looking for some fresh blood." Sophie said.

"I'll tell you what, if your earmarks and your no-bid contracts are still in tht Appropriations bill, then you know that he's still your boy. But if they're not, well, Congressman Calloway would be open to enjoying the same favors that Jenkins has enjoyed for all these years. But, of course, Jenkins has new friends now." Nate said with a coy smile.

"You should look out for the signs, Congressman." Sophie said. "Missed phone calls, no more little favors."

"Those are the same signs that your wife is cheating on you." Jenkins pointed out.

"That's right." Sophie said.

"What am I supposed to do when that happens." Jenkins asked.

Sophie smiled and handed him a card. "Play the field." She said.

"Thanks for coming, Tommy." Dufort said.

"Pleasure." Nate said.

"Congressman Jenkins is very careful." Hardison said. "No direct bribes, but he's renovating his house and so far he's received over 600,000 dollars worth of work for a little over fifty grand." Hardison brought up pictures of Jenkins house.

"Castleman owns the contracting company, huh?" Eliot asked.

"I mean, he's going through like three shell companies, but yeah and this man loves his house. Just check out his web browsing habits." Hardison said, changing the image to a website for wood panels. "Look here, see, the man spent three weeks picking out the perfect mahogany wood panels." Hardison said.

"Is his house finished?" Eliot asked.

Hardison smirked. "Not even close." He said

Eliot grinned. "Can I borrow your phone?"

Hardison pulled out his phone, dialed the number, and held it out.

Eliot grabbed it. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to cancel delivery on some mahogany wood paneling please." Eliot said getting up when Hardison tried to grab at the phone. "The Jenkins house, yeah, you know what? Do me a favor, man, just go ahead and cancel the whole order, yes sir." Eliot walked out of the room, just as Allison walked in with a bowl of popcorn and two beers.

"What's he doing? Or do I even want to know." She asked, sitting down next to the hacker, who gladly accepted the beer.

"Yanking the Congressman's chain." Hardison said with a sly grin.

"Ah. Has Parker started her run yet?" Allison asked.

"Just now." Hardison said.

In the capitol building, Parker walked through the halls dressed as a cop. She gave a snappy salute to another cop as she walked by. She darted into another hallway.

"You know, I still think it would be easier if Nate would just let me hack the bill in the printer queue." Hardison said.

Parker came out of the hallway, seconds later, now dressed as a clerk.

"No, no, no computers. The bill is put into a wooden box on the Congressional floor called the hopper." Allison said.

"A wood- whoa, whoa! A wood- a wooden box?" He asked.

"A wooden box." Allison confirmed.

"Wood. Well, we can put a man on the moon, but all our laws go into a wooden box." Hardison said.

Allison nodded. "What we need to do is we need to get Dufort to believe that Jenkins is abandoning him, that Jenkins submitted an Appropriations bill that doesn't have any of the usual contracts for Castleman." Allison said.

Parker ran into a clerk and stole his ID badge, then inserted new pages into the bill.

"Which means that we have to put our own pages into the bill." Allison said.

"That means the only place we could get at it would..." Realization dawned on the hacker. "Ah, ah! Okay."He said.

She smiled.

Parker flashed her badge and walked into the senate room, right past the clerk she stole the badge from earlier.

"I don't know where it is, I just had it." He said patting around for his badge.

"If you don't have a pass, you don't get in." One of the security guards said.

"I mean, break a law everybody's done, that my mama's done that. But steal a law, oh, she's gonna be a legend baby". Hardison said.

On the screen, C-SPAN news showed the senate floor where Parker was walking to "the hopper".

She waved at the camera and put the fake bill into the box. "The eagle has landed." She hissed into the comms.

"That's it." Allison said with a grin.

"Uhn! Go ahead girl!" Hardison said. "Sexiness! Unh!" He made a purring noise in the back of his throat.

"Might wanna ease up on that a little bit." Allison said, patting his arm.

"Just saying." Hardison said.

"Yeah." Allison said, pursing her lips together.

"Between you and me, Al, you and me." Hardison said.

"Never leaves the room." Allison vowed.

The next day the team was listening to an audio of Jenkins and Dufort arguing.

Sophie and Parker walked in.

"How was Washington?" Nate asked.

"Villains, Conmen, wolves in sheep clothing." Sophie said sitting down. "Felt right at home." She said with a grin.

Parker sat next to Allison.

"This is pretty good, listen to this." Nate said.

"Don't call me! This is your contractors problem." Dufort said on the audio.

"Oh please, let's not pretend-"

"You pulled all our earmarks from the Appropriations bill." Dufort accused, interrupting Jenkins.

"There's about an hour of this, but here's the high point." Hardison said, playing the audio.

"Somebody screwed up." Jenkins said. "I've always been there for you, I called Manila, I cleared customs for you in Los Angeles, and that was a risk!"

Hardison paused the audio. "Now, after that, they.. well, whatever you call the rich guys on the telephones version of make-up sex, but now we know Castleman makes a thousand shipments a month, but one ship through Manilla, right after the shooting, linked to the phone records from the Congressman." Hardison scrolled through several documents before stopping on a picture of the L.A. harbor with lots of shipping containers. "Their shipments come through here, now somewhere in this madness is container 541, it's currently sitting at the port of Los Angeles." Hardison said.

"What's in it?" Parker asked.

"No idea, but it's moving in two days, headed to the main Castleman storage facility in Kansas." Hardison said.

"Now that, that's why they tried to hit Perry, right there, that's it." Nate said.

"Wanted to tie up all the loose ends before they tucked this one away at home base." Eliot said.

"What do you ship in a crate from Iraq?" Sophie asked.

"Oh boy." Allison said, looking at her uncle, who shared her concern. "Something worth killing for."

"How's security?" Nate asked as he and Sophie waited by the car, around them cranes were moving different crates throughout the harbor.

Parker, Eliot, Hardison, and Allison slipped among the crate, searching for container 541.

"Dockyard entrance is no problem, but..." Eliot trailed off looking at the armed Castleman guards.

They moved away, revealing the container they were looking for.

"There it is." Allison said.

"It's 541." Eliot started towards the crate, but Hardison grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Hold up, Rambo." Hardison said.

Eliot glared, but Hardison was too busy to notice.

He used his cell to detect any electronics in the area. "Do, no lasers, no motion detectors, no vibration sensors, no- Whoops!" Hardison said.

"Whoops? What, whoops?" Nate asked.

"There's a webcam. I'm picking up it's broadcast on my phone."

Eliot moved away from the group.

"Oh, I see it up on that pole." Parker said.

Eliot walked back with a good sized rock in hand.

"I just have to spoof the IP address and overlay a digital duplicate over the WiFi-"

Eliot threw the rock at the webcam and it shattered.

"Or, you know, we could do that." Allison said smiling at Hardison.

He wrinkled his nose.

"Let's go, come on." Eliot said moving towards the crate.

"I'm sorry it was too far away for you to punch." Hardison called after him.

"I bet that really frustrates him." Allison said.

She and Hardison laughed.

Soon, they were by the container and Parker was picking the lock.

"What do you thinks in there?" Hardison asked.

"Artifacts from Baghdad museums, maybe some from the Saddam palaces." Parker offered.

"No, I bet it's weapons. Lot of back alley arms dealing going on in a war zone." Eliot said.

"What do you think, Allison?" Parker asked.

Allison shrugged. "Precious metals, jewels, stolen paintings, it could be anything really. I mean this is Castleman we're talking about, and so far everything they've done is unpredictable." She said.

Parker finished with the lock, and Hardison and Eliot opened the doors.

Their eyes grew wide.

The crate was filled with pallets and pallets of money.

"Money's good, too." Hardison said.

Parker moved forward and embraced the money.

Hardison and Eliot gave her a weird look.

Allison just smiled and shook her head.

Parker turned around, her arms splayed around her as if she was protecting the money. She started to giggle insanely.

A/N: What's up! I worked extra hard on this one. Hope you dig it. Review, tell me what you think. xo Sassy


	6. Not An Update

No. This is not an update unfortunately. I am having problems with this next chapter. Allison just doesn't want to bend to my will! And vice versa of course, we're both bull headed. So I have taken a break and I'm focusing on another story. But I swear I will get back with it. For now I would like to thank those who have followed this story.

aleciag0924 06-30-2016

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Thank y'all soooo much! And for the favorites. 

AMV1999 07-23-2016

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06-30-2016

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You guys are awesome! You're the reason I keep writing! You all rock! xo Sassy.


	7. Just An FYI

Hello everybody. No, this isn't an update, I am so terribly sorry. My writers block has gotten so bad I've lost interest in all my stories. It's got me super bummed out. A friend of mine who is also a writer said what really helped her when she had a low like this was to take a break from everything: Computers, phones, people. Everything. So my uncle has allowed me to go up to his cabin in the UP of Michigan. I will be gone for a while. I hope I will be back soon with good news and a chapter. Thank you so much for understanding. Keep your fingers crossed. xo Sassy.


	8. The Matzah Ball Soup

Soon handfuls of money was spread out across the desk at Leverage Consulting INC. with Parker stroking it lovingly.

"Okay, that's worth killing for." Sophie said.

"Ultraviolet checks out, the paper checks out, the watermarks, the ink, it all checks out." Hardison said.

"There's a whole container of it, from Iraq, of all places. It's gotta be counterfeit." Sophie said.

Parker rubbed a stack of bills against her cheek. "No, it's real, it feels real." She said.

"Hey, what do you got going on? You and Hardison? What is it like a creepy contest?" Eliot asked.

Allison rolled her eyes.

"I don't know. What is it? Two-three hundred million in US currency? What's it doing in Iraq?" Sophie asked.

"We sent it there." Nate said.

"What?" Eliot asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Beginning of the Iraq war, my old company helped insure the largest currency transfer in history. Billions and billions in ones, fives, and twenties. All cash sent to Iraq for reconstruction." Nate said.

"Bribes." Allison said.

"As needed. Nine billion went missing." Nate informed.

"Wait billion? With a 'B'? Nine billion dollars of US taxpayer money just disappeared?" Sophie asked with disbelief.

"Castleman gets a cut of the booty." Hardison said.

"The day they go to move it, real soldiers, they see the transfer..." Allison began.

"One of the contractors spooks, starts shooting." Eliot finished.

"Yeah, but Corporal Perry didn't see anything." Parker pointed out.

"Well, they don't know that." Nate said.

"Castleman's a billion dollar company. Why would they even care about this cash?" Hardison asked.

"Because it's cash." Nate clarified. "You know, money is money, that's one thing. But cash is a whole other thing. For all the money in the economy there's only about $500 in cash for every American." Nate said.

"Untraceable small bills, perfect for slush funds or home improvements for US Congressman." Sophie said catching on.

"Or small time donors." Hardison added. "You know, for re-election. No electronic trail."

"It's money laundering." Allison said.

"How so?" Sophie asked.

Allison got up and walked over to the electronic pad, which showed what she wrote on the screen. She started drawing. "Alright, well, Castleman uses the illegal cash to re-elect his Congressman." She said writing the Congressman's name along with Castleman's name. "Congressman gets him no bid contracts for government jobs, and the government pays for his services with legal money." She said, adding the Government to form a triangle from the names and a couple of dollar signs for effect. She made arrows to link the names together. "There's the circle, right there." Allison said. Well technically it was a triangle.

"They turned the entire US government into a money laundering scam." Hardison said.

"That's right." Nate said.

"Brilliant. I'm impressed." Hardison said.

"Never thought i'd say this, ever, but that is just way to much money to steal." Sophie said.

"No, you're not going to steal it." Nate said.

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"You don't remember?" Allison asked. "You're the good guys now, you're going to give it back."

"Check the perimeter." A soldier said, he turned to two guards in a car.

"Start your rounds." He said.

They nodded.

The two soldiers near container 541 were talking casually when they heard yelling.

Nate and Sophie turned the corner, colorfully dressed as tourists, toting luggage bags.

"The car is right over there!" Nate shouted.

"Hey, you two!" One of the soldiers shouted.

"I told you, we should of taken he shuttle bus." Sophie said to Nate.

"Stay right there!" The other soldier shouted.

"I paid them 2,000 dollars for food poisoning, they're not getting another cent!" Nate shouted.

Parker and Allison looked around the corner dressed as construction workers, they snuck past the distracted guards.

"Oh, I have to hear this again." Sophie complained.

"Hey, hey you, you come here. Where's the Pacific Cruise parking lot!?" Nate shouted.

"You people have to move away from this area." The first soldier said.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm trying to, jackass, just tell me where my car is!" He shouted.

"Yeah, that's right, start a fight why don't you." Sophie scoffed.

Nate let out a loud groan.

Sophie mocked him.

Congressman Jenkins pulled up to the gate and got out of his car then knocked on the window of the guard booth. "Excuse me." He called.

Eliot walked out in uniform with glasses. "Yes sir? Congressman!" Eliot exclaimed feigning shock. "What a pleasure."

Jenkins nodded. "Look, I paid a fortune for these mahogany panels and I'd like to know where the hell they are."

"I can help you with that right here, sir." Eliot said taking a paper from Jenkins and looking it over.

Parker, Allison, and Hardison had now made it to the container.

"They changed the lock." Parker said, after a brief once over.

"Just do what you do. I mean, whatever what you need- ah, uh." Hardison stuttered.

Parker grinned at Allison and pulled a small bomb from her tool belt.

"Nah, uh uh, stop all that playing. Hell no." Hardison said, shaking his head.

Parker secured the bomb to the container door and set the timer.

Hardison backed away and behind a nearby truck.

"After squeezing out three brats for him..." Sophie said.

"Ah, here we go." Nate said, throwing his hands in the air.

"..Then he treats me to a little romance."

Soldiers approached them from behind.

"Hey!" The head soldier shouted. He looked at the two guards. "You two, back to your posts." He looked at Nate and Sophie. "What's this?" He asked, he recognized Nate. "I know you." He said jabbing an accusing finger in Nate's direction.

"What?" Nate asked.

At that instance, Parker's bomb went off.

Everyone dove for cover.

A truck pulled out quickly with Hardison driving.

"Check the container!" The head soldier exclaimed. He turned to Nate and Sophie, but they had taken off.

"Wha- whoa, whoa! Where'd they go?" He asked.

Nate and Sophie stopped in the road and turned back to look at the head soldier.

The truck passed by them and they disappeared, leaving behind their luggage bags.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" The head soldier shouted.

A group of soldiers ran to the blown container, only to find it empty of it's contents.

"No!" The soldier in charge screamed. He grabbed his shoulder radio. "Perimeter! Perimeter! There's a white tuck coming at you! Do not let it pass!" He shouted.

The soldiers ran after the truck.

Right after they left, Jenkins wandered onto the scene, looking for something.

A truck full of soldiers was now following Hardison's truck, which had made it though security.

"Stop that truck!" One of the soldiers shouted. "Come on, come on!"

The Castleman truck pulled out in front of Hardison, forcing him to stop.

The soldiers pulled out their guns and surrounded the vehicle.

"Get out of the vehicle now!" A soldier shouted.

Hardison held up his hands.

Back at the port of Los Angeles, Dufort had pulled up to the gates. "What's going on here?" He asked.

"What are you doing here?" The soldier in charge asked.

"We're moving the container today. Now, what's happening?" Dufort asked.

"Sir... The containers empty."

The head soldier pulled up to Hardison's truck and jumped out. "And just where do you think you're going?" He asked, walking up to Hardison.

"I'm just transporting." Hardison said.

"No, you're going to open this truck." The soldier said.

Jenkins stood near the container that was blown up.

Dufort came up behind him angrily. "What did you do!" He shouted grabbing Jenkins and shaking him. "Who the hell are you working for!? You stupid son of a-"

"Get your damn hands off me!" Jenkins shouted.

"I will bury you!" Dufort shouted.

Jenkins pushed Dufort away from him and fixed his shirt.

"You don't think we kept all of your emails! All of your phone calls! You go down with us on this!" Dufort shouted.

"What is this?" Jenkins asked.

Dufort motioned to the container. "This is the container!" He screamed.

"The container? The container with the Iraqi money?" Jenkins asked.

"Open it." The head soldier demanded.

"Okay, I see what this is." Hardison said. "This is racial. This is about my ethnicity, ain't it?" He asked.

When nobody responded he nodded his head.

"Uh huh, it's cause I'm Jewish, ain't it?"

"I'm suppose to believe that you just happened to be here on the day that a couple hundred million dollars in cash goes missing!" Dufort screamed.

"Don't blame me! I helped you smuggle that money through customs! I broke laws! I could go to jail!" Jenkins shouted.

"Congressman!" Someone shouted.

The two bickering men looked over to see half a dozen reporters and cameras approaching.

"Is this the container Congressman?" The same woman asked.

"Uh... what?" Jenkins asked.

"You called us, Congressman." The lady said.

"I- no, no, no, you must be mistaken about that." Jenkins stuttered.

"...Just cause a brother likes mozzaball soup. What's wrong with that? Sammy Davis-"

The head soldier cut Hardison off by pointing a gun in is face. "Open that door or I open your head." He snarled.

Hardison held his hands higher in compliance. He walked over to the door and slowly unlocked it, raising his hands several times. Then pushed the door up to reveal... An empty truck. Hardison smiled innocently.

* * *

A/N: Well, I'm back! I didn't actually get to spend the whole two weeks that I planned to spend in the UP. I ended up in the hospital literally two days after I got there with a badly sprained knee, I'd like to say it happened while I was doing something awesome but no. Like the graceless cow I am, I was walking to the cabin carrying a suitcase and I stepped in a hole. -.- Fun times right? Any who, My writers block is gone! But i waited until the painkillers were out of my system before braving a new chapter. Thank you all for being patient with me. I would like to send an extra special shout out to Momochan77 and PenStride. You two have been extra supportive and I just wanted to let you know I'm thankful for it! xoxoxo Sassy.


	9. The End

The female reporter moved one of the doors on the bombed container revealing numbers on the container. "Not this one. This container is 542." She said.

"What?" Jenkins asked.

The reporter moved to the other door revealing the undamaged 541 container. "Your phone call said 541. Sir, you're holding the key."

Jenkins looked at the key in his hand. "Oh, yeah, well."

* * *

~Flashback~

"I'm just back from Washington for a day and they say I have to personally come down here." Jenkins ranted.

"I'll give you a map to your container, right there. One second." Eliot said, reaching into the guard booth. "And I'll get ya the key." He handed the objects to the Congressman.

~End Of Flashback~

* * *

Jenkins put on a fake smile and moved to unlock the container.

"Don't, don't." Dufort hissed in hushed tones.

"They're watching, they're filming us." Jenkins said quietly. "Charles will you help me here please?" Jenkins said louder.

They pulled open the doors revealing the container filled with cash.

* * *

~Flashback~

Parker fixed the bomb onto the container.

Hardison moved back and behind the truck. Revealing the numbers 542.

~End Of Flashback~

* * *

"Congressman, What is all this? What have you uncovered here?" The reporter asked.

"I have uncovered corruption. This is Charles Dufort from Castleman Security and in the course of his company's very patriotic work in Iraq they discovered a massive theft of US currency." Jenkins said.

"Our Intel revealed that this container left Iraq sometime last month." Dufort said, stepping in. Silently praising the Congressman's quick thinking. "I knew that I would need high lever help unraveling this conspiracy, so I called the most honest man that I know. Congressman Jenkins."

"And I want to tell you this. I, for one, am not going to stand by and let this sort of war profiteering continue." Jenkins said.

The phones of all the reporters, cameramen, and even Jenkins and Dufort's rang. A video popped up.

"Don't blame me!" Jenkins cried on the video. "I helped you smuggle that money through customs! I broke laws! I could go to jail!"

"You don't think we kept all of your emails! All of your phone calls! You go down with us on this!" Dufort screamed.

Dufort and Jenkins paled.

* * *

~Flashback~

"Something's wrong with the webcam, sir." One of the soldiers said.

The head soldier looked at the phone to see it's nothing but static.

They rushed to the container to make sure it was safe.

"Get some men up there to fix that webcam. I want it working in an hour. Move!" He ordered.

Parker, Hardison, Eliot, and Allison laid flat on the top of the container, glancing at each other.

~End Of Flashback~

* * *

"Congressman, is this a confession?" The reporter asked.

"There's an explanation for everything." Jenkins said.

"And sir, what is that explanation? How long have you been involved in this smuggling?" She asked.

Jenkins was at loss for words. "Oh crap." He said walking away.

The reporter pulled out her phone and made a call. "We're going to lead with crap."

* * *

Perry wheeled himself down the hospital driveway, followed by Dr. Leroque.

"What's this all about?" The latter asked.

"I don't know. Allison called, said she and Mr. Ford wanted us down here right away." Perry said.

The team was waiting for them, leaning against the truck Hardison had from earlier.

"Hi guys." Nate said.

"What do you want?" Dr. Leroque asked.

"Show em." Nate said.

Hardison unlocked the back door of the truck and pushed the door up revealing, once again, an empty truck.

"An empty truck." Dr. Leroque said flatly.

"Nothing up my sleeve." Hardison said.

"Allison, would you care to do the honors?" Nate asked.

She smiled and walked to the back of the truck and ripped down a painted canvas that was made to look like the back of the truck. Behind the canvas was two huge pallets of cash.

Perry and Dr. Leroque were speechless, but the latter found her voice quite quickly.

"Is this stolen?" Dr. Leroque asked with a glare.

Hardison helped Allison hop down from the truck.

"Not anymore." Sophie said.

"What are we suppose to do with it?" The doctor asked.

"Pay for Corporal Perry's rehab." Sophie said.

"And some other guys rehabs." Hardison said.

"Pretty much what ever you want." Allison said.

"Doc, my girl..." Perry began, motioning to Allison, causing her eyebrow to raise. "...Shows up with her cute blonde friend and a couple million dollars. I say we take the win." He looked at the team. "Thank you." He said.

Eliot walked over. "Corporal." He said. "Thank you, thank you." He said, before walking away, along with Parker, Sophie, and Hardison.

Nate and Allison lingered.

"The world doesn't work this way." Dr. Leroque said.

Nate smiled. "So, change the world." He walked away.

"Your girl?" Allison asked.

Perry grinned. "You know, you never answered my email. I was thinking I could order some Chinese and we could go to that park down the street. What do you say?" He asked.

A slow grin spread across her face. She took his hand and squeezed it. "I'd love to."

He grinned and kissed the back of her hand.

She laughed.

The team watched as more injured soldiers came out to join Perry, Allison, and the doctor.

Sophie noticed Nate's eyes were on Perry and Allison. "You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Nate lied, narrowing his eyes.

Sophie bumped his shoulder softly. "She's still your little girl, no matter who she's with."

"I know." He said.

"We've got it. we can take care of everybody." Dr. Leroque said.

"I get half right?" Perry asked.

"No, you don't get half!" Allison said with a laugh, ruffling his hair. She glanced back at the team. "I got to go." She said.

He nodded.

She turned and walked away.

"See you Friday!" Perry shouted.

She looked back and grinned.

"I get half." Perry said to Dr. Leroque.

Allison slide into her place beside Nate. "Anybody who wants to walk away..." She said looking at the team. "...Can do it right now."

They all looked back at the soldiers.

"One more." Eliot said.

"Maybe two." Hardison said.

"I bought a plant." Parker blurted out randomly.

"Nice, team spirit." Hardison praised.

"What does it do?" Parker asked as they walked away.

"I can't believe you two gave away all your money. You didn't buy anything for yourself." Eliot said.

"Oh, I bought a car. And Allison bought some art supplies and a bike." Nate said.

"Probably a station wagon." Hardison said. "And what did your bike come with a little bell?" He asked. "Ching ching, ching ching." He said, mimicking a bell sound, causing the others to laugh.

Allison snorted.

"My car's electric." Nate said.

"Of course." Eliot said.

"How sweet, do you have to wind it up?" Sophie asked.

"I'm just trying to be responsible." Nate said.

"Responsible? You know it sucks being the good guys, right?" Hardison asked.

"You haven't figured it out yet have you? Just cause you're the good guys now, doesn't mean you can't have a little fun along the way." Nate said getting into an expensive looking red Tesla roadster, pulling out and raring down the road.

The team shook their heads.

"Woo hoo." Parker said.

"Oh boy, midlife crisis." Sophie said.

"Absolutely." Eliot said.

"Definitely, midlife." Hardison said.

"Totally, midlife crisis." Parker said uncertainly.

"You better believe it." Allison said handing Parker a helmet. "With me." She said.

"Where are we going?" Parker asked as she and Allison walked towards a sleek, black Harley motorcycle.

"We're going to start your art lessons." Allison said climbing on while the rest of the team looked at her dumbstruck.

"Oh, okay." Parker said climbing on the back. "Hey Allison." Parker said.

"Yes?" Allison asked, starting the motorcycle.

"What's a midlife crisis?"

* * *

A/N: Yeah... This was later than I expected. I've been doped on painkillers since literally right after my last update. My knee had been doing absolutely wonderful, until my friend's five-year-old decided to jump on my back sending me to the floor right on my bad knee. Yep, instant trip to the emergency room. So... yeah... Sorry for the wait. Hope you dig this! xo Sassy.


	10. The Epilogue

"We need to talk." Allison said as Eliot opened the door of his apartment.

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we already do this?" He asked.

She huffed at him. "Why did you kiss me?"

He shrugged. "To shut you up." He said, walking back into his apartment.

Allison followed after putting her bag on the ground. "And you couldn't think of any better way?" She asked following him into the kitchen. Which actually surprised her, it looked well used and was very clean.

He shrugged. "I didn't hear you complaining." He stated, grabbing beer from the fridge and popping it opened.

Allison spluttered turning red.

"Beer?" He asked.

She rubbed her hot cheeks and shook her head. "No, no thank you." She said.

He shrugged for like the third time since she got there and put the beer back.

"Why do you hate me?" She asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't hate you."

She scoffed. "I think you forgot the sarcasm in that statement."

"There's no sarcasm. I don't hate you." Eliot said, being completely honest.

Allison was taken aback. "So... you don't hate me?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, I don't hate you."

"Huh." She said blinking. "Well... Um... Thanks for uh... Clearing that up." She said awkwardly before turning around and walking out.

Eliot followed her. "So, hows things between you and Corporal Perry?" He asked suddenly, causing her to pause with her hand on the doorknob.

Allison gave him a half smile. "We broke up."

His face faltered between a frown and a stoic look. "Oh... I'm sorry." He said, scratching his neck.

"Oh, it's fine. It was mutual and we're still friends." She said grinning.

He smiled back. "Well, that's good." He said.

She nodded.

They stood around for a second shifting and clearing throats awkwardly.

"Well, I'm gonna go..." She said picking up her bag.

"Allison." Eliot said.

She turned towards him eyebrow raised.

"There's a new restaurant opening up down the street that I planned to try out. If you don't have any plans on Friday, care to join me?" He asked.

She grinned. "I'd love too."


	11. Announcement

Hello! Whelp, despite all the issues with writers block and my knee I've managed to finish! And I have news. Whether you take it good or bad is entirely how you see it. I have decided to write only one more story for Allison. I'm working on another story for a different TV series and I'm going to work on that one. I may or may not pick up Allison's story again in a while and I might not. Thank you all for reading. The good feedback overwhelmed me. There are a few people who have been especially amazing readers.

Momochan77

Reading-Stories-Only

Lizzy7258

starrat

PenStride

Thank you all so much. Give yourselves big pats on the back. If you are following me there should be an email for when my next story comes out if not I will be posting it on here. It should be out soon. Thank you once again for your overwhelming support. Take care and God bless. xo Sassy.


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